Romney: Newt's the front-runner

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Mitt Romney, who just a month ago had hoped to seal the GOP presidential nomination with Florida’s primary on Jan. 31, tells POLITICO that he now foresees an epic fight with Newt Gingrich that could last through the California primary on June 5.

Asked if the former House speaker is the front-runner, Romney replied bluntly: “He is right now.”

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Romney made it clear that he would rather lose than make incendiary charges about Gingrich that could help President Barack Obama in the general election. And the former Massachusetts governor said the nomination “is not going to be decided in just a couple of contests” and “could go for months and months.”

“You see how dramatically the numbers have moved and how quickly they have over the last year?” he replied Monday during a video interview at a grubby French-Canadian diner, Chez Vachon, a storied campaign stop that has hosted George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

“It’s a very fluid electorate. I think I’ll get the nomination. I can’t predict when. … I’ve got — what? — five or six more months to go to make that a reality.”

Romney had clearly learned from his thin-skinned responses in a recent Fox News interview. This time, he kept his cool through extended questioning about why he is suddenly the underdog, and whether he has what GOP voters want.

Doubling down on his strategy of running responsibly when base voters seem to crave bombast, Romney said: “You said that our voters wanted red meat and that they therefore need a person who will give that red meat. I’m saying … that’s not who I am, and that’s not going to be successful in the final analysis. … “If … they want language that’s so incendiary that it really excites them, then some can offer that in a primary. And you can be assured that they’ll lose in the general. Because the people who decide elections, the people in the middle — by the way, people who last time voted for Barack Obama — do not want to have a president elected based on red meat.

“I’m not going to say outrageous things that can be used to hang [a GOP opponent] down the road. … In my view, [primary voters] want someone who is willing to be a responsible leader, that brings America together as opposed to dividing America. … I am what I am. I don’t tend to say outrageous things about other people that I don’t believe in order to win political points.”

Why has Gingrich surged?

“Got me,” Romney replied. “I think in the final analysis, when people take a very close look at our experience, at our records, at our backgrounds, they’ll recognize that my background and my experience as a leader is what America needs.”

“Oh, not at all, not at all,” he said. “I’ve got a family, I’ve got a life. I’m putting myself on the line to try and make a difference for the country I care deeply about, and to help the great majority of Americans that are really hurting; and if people don’t want me to do that, that’s fine.”